The End of Our Road

 Recently I rediscovered a postcard photograph from circa 1914  showing off an almost new Glenferrie Road.  The street looked smart!  The photographer had set up his tripod in the middle of the road, probably halfway along the road, and his camera faced towards Hatfield Road.  The only sign of life captured was a road sweeper with his barrow, and I noted how wide the public space appeared to be; no parked cars, of course, and the footpaths were equally clear of rubbish bins, skips, data connection boxes, parking signs or  telephone wires carried on their sturdy posts.  And no white lines on the roadway or coloured spray paint on the pavement.  Litter? Not a wrapper to be found.  In this view just one small street light is  visible, and, if you look carefully, one posting box on the corner where the future Methodist Church will be built.

Many more pedestrians would have been be walking in one direction or the other, and as this photo was facing Hatfield Road, everyone's major view was about twenty feet of the south side of Hatfield Road unhindered by today's obstructions; the growing trees of the cemetery and a field tree predating the cemetery but now removed.  This was a fixed and identifiable scene with which householders were familiar.  East street end had, and still has, is own unique borrowed picture of the next road.  Unfortunately, similar photographs are not available of all of Fleetville's roads, and although today's roads are crowded I thought it might be useful to find Streetview images of nearby residential roads and focus on their own end of road fixed views.

The widest view presented to us is in Clarence Road just south of the park's main entrance; a view not much changed since 1900 – The Crown and the Stanhope Road shops.  Only the former post office, now Chilli Raj, is slightly newer.

Laurel Road may be short but provides same amount of view: Rose Cottage (the one with the cart drive under part of the house) and the first of the three Horndean Cottages just before Cavendish Road.

By the time we reach Blandford Road, the view is one of the views which include mature trees. We just miss seeing the main entrance to the cemetery, and just behind the frontage wall and trees is the entrance to the Manager's lodge.  Blandford Road emphasises the difficulty of cars passing each other while parking occupies both sides of the road and two-way working.

Glenferrie Road today, as one hundred years previously, provides us with a green backdrop to Hatfield Road, being at the eastern end of the cemetery.  The trees have grown more majestic and there are no buildings behind to be masked.  It can't of course be helped that this was the day the bins were collected.  Nevertheless most of the containers remain on the footpath all day and make it difficult for pedestrians generally, those in buggies and with sight or other mobility issues, to negotiate a route between garden walls and kerb-parked cars.

At Sandfield Road we are able to look across to the drive of Rainbow House, formerly the Family Centre, and the frontage of Magnet Kitchens.

The former Hobbs Garage comes into view at the end of Harlesden Road.  These days it belongs to Kwik Fit, of course. And we can just see part of the caretaker's house which was erected c1935 for the Central Girls' School, part of the roof of which can be spotted above the Kwik-Fit building.

An especially green south of Hatfield Road is apparent opposite Royal Road where the backdrop of Morrison's car park is Alban Way.  We are led to this view via the welcome tree lined recreation ground.

A hedge-line borders Woodstock Road south at Fleetville Nursery and Infants School and contrasts with the first of two views of Morrison's supermarket, which is probably a more pleasant streetscape than that of the former Thomas Smith printing works structure (also retained by Ballito Hosiery Mill).  Many would consider that building to have appeared more austere.

Finally, from way down Arthur Road we capture the glazed wall of  Morrison's cafe.  We are also deceived by the sight of a tree which looks as if it is growing on the corner site of the old Institute building, although it is a borrowed view; it is growing in the grounds of Morrison's, near the corner of Sutton Road.  We finish with a 1953 monochrome photograph showing the earlier view from Arthur Road across to the Ballito building.  We can colour it in our imagination as we prepare for our 1953 Coronation street party.

We can, of course, find views from the ends of almost every road in the city.  What connects the selection shown above is of course the busy Hatfield Road.

Photos courtesy St Albans Museums and Google Streetview.

Hostelry which never was

The Hatfield Road buildings east of Harlesden Road, with the recreation ground east of the
treeline.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

The image at the top of the blog post on 14th August looking east from Sandfield Road, includes developments which took place east of Harlesden Road, but something seemed to be missing, partly because we think we are looking at the recreation ground in the distance; a point mentioned in that post.  In fact, it is future development land which we will come to shortly; the rec is out of sight in that photo.

By 1964, when this photo was taken, the corner grocery shop had become a bank.  The next shop, 
also a grocery has a house between them.  A short line of fir trees marks where a meeting house was
built.  Beyond is Fleetville's first shop parade.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

But first we will look at the orange block east of Harlesden Road.  There is a detached address which is a shop, on the corner, and a semi-detached pair but both parts now looking very different.  No doubt, when new the semi-detached pair with their little front gardens would have looked smart.  Edward Hanley owned the corner shop  – he also owned and ran a grocery on the south side of Hatfield Road near The Crown. This one at Harlesden Road was managed by James Harrison, baker and confectioner, followed by two more bakers in turn until resumption of peace after World War 1 when Teiji Orihash took over baking and added a grocery.  There are still former residents of the district who recall being taught to play the piano by Mrs Orihash at lessons given on a first floor grand piano.  There is some doubt whether or not Mr Orihash kept his shop open throughout the hostilities after 1939, although the 1942 Kelly's directory still lists the shop.  However, after the war, Mr Orihash thought it prudent to change his name to Hugh Orton in view of potential hostility towards his Japanese origin.  In the mid-fifties number 173 was transferred to Lloyds, the last of the big clearing banks to open in Fleetville.  They had a relatively short presence in Hatfield Road, until the mid-seventies, before the present traders, City Glass, took over, and created another example of additional premises built on the rear garden space.

A snowy scene in the 1930s centred on the house then being occupied by Charles Carter. The
grocery to the right was then under the management of H W Bennett.
COURTESY CAROLYN HAYWARD

The other two premises in the orange block were semi-detached homes until 1911 when the righthand house, number 177, was adapted to become a shop; H W Bennett's grocery, just two doors from the corner shop.  Walter Brooker took over from around 1948, but, as with many other small grocery traders, they suffered from the arrival of the supermarkets.  Brooker's therefore became a television aerials shop, and more recently the latest in trend purchases: vaping.

In the middle there remains one house. Although there have been several occupants, more is known about one of them during the 1930s. Thomas Carter, who had already established himself in the horticultural business, Sear & Carter, near St Paul's Church, encouraged his brother Charles, with an interest in agricultural machinery, to set up business in St Albans.  So, in the early 1930s Charles acquired the house at number 175 and a plot opposite on which he built Carter's Garage.  Later it would became Hobbs' Garage and is now Kwikfit.

Breweries are usually early to lay claim to land in development districts for future public houses.  In 1899 Benskins purchased the red and blue plots in the top picture for a public house, hostelry and carriage yard – presumably similar to The Crown, which was being constructed during the same year.  Directly opposite to Benskins' proposed establishment a competing company, Trust House, acquired a site for a hotel and accommodation for dining and drinking.  This launched a twenty-five year,  acrimonious battle between the two companies and many of the property owners in Fleetville which was only resolved when Benskins transferred its interest to the site on which the Rats' Castle was later built.  But there was no hotel.

In 1924 only the orange block buildings have
been developed. A small and larger plots acquired by
Benskins remain open during the lengthy objections
to the sale of alcohol in the district.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

The line of WW1 troops passing the shops, with the 
smaller open plot behind the leading soldiers.  We can also observe where the righthand former
house has been converted into the shop which one day will be known as Brooker's.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

Benskins land consisted of a small and large plot.  As soon as Benskins felt the opportunity of future trade on this site slipping away, the company was prepared to relinquish the smaller plot, which the Salvation Army purchased.  There are, of course, two possible reasons for this move.  Either the church group wished to construct a citadel, Sunday school or other meetings place, or it was a strategic purchase to squeeze out Benskins.  Well, the Sally Army didn't build, and when the opportunity arose the Mid Herts Bill-Posting Company rented both the small and large sites for advertising.  The small site remained as a poster site until around 1956 when the Plymouth Brethren group, which had previously occupied a small premises in Hedley Road, constructed a meeting house.  When it was no longer required for this purpose c2005 it was replaced by residential accommodation with the design containing echoes of the neighbouring frontages to the east.  Although there had been an option for a ground floor shop in the plan this did not materialise.

The Plymouth Brethren Meeting House built in the mid-fifties on the smaller plot formerly
owned by Benskins and subsequently acquired by the Salvation Army.
COURTESY ROBIN DE SMET

The same smaller plot more recently.  Long gone are the days when the land was used for
displaying large advertising posters.  Unfortunately a photo of that period has not yet been found.

Benskins finally relinquished the large plot (the blue block in the top picture) c1927, and this presented the opportunity for a shop parade of four establishments for the first time in Hatfield Road.  Set further back from the kerb the front elevations were typical of their time, with herringbone brickwork and first floor bay windows.  The original plan was apparently insufficient for the demand even at the time of opening, as the irregular space between the planned development and the boundary with the recreation ground a single floor shop unit was added.  Until the early fifties there were a variety of occupiers, but from 1956 Andrews greengrocery, was opened there.  In 2020 the same family is still trading here.

The five shops shown in 1964 with their frontages and before improvements to the roadway.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

When retail trading returned to normal after WW2 we should remember that the parade was still young.  In the period up to the mid 1970s the first shop was a confectioner (Dorothy Miles and then her son David Miles. Miss Gurney and then Mrs Wright, managed a ladies' hairdresser. In the third shop was Mr Macpherson, chemist, followed by St Albans' Scooters. A butchery run first by Hedley's and then J Johnson was in the fourth unit.  Andrews greengrocery was and is in the lock-up shop at the end.

However, today the former confectionery, has been converted into residential.  The front elevation, though modern, still respects the original design, although the herringbone brickwork was been lost.

This recent view illustrates the grey frontage of the former first shop now converted into
residential.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREETVIEW

In this series of posts we have found many examples of houses converted into shops as Hatfield Road became a true shopping street; in this post, however, we've drawn attention to a rare example of a shop being converted into a house. Next time, in a break from looking at the built Hatfield Road, we'll pause to provide an insight into the origin of the Recreation Ground, sometimes these days referred to as Fleetville Park.

Hedges remain

These are the premises described below, between 159 Hatfield Road and Harlesden Road corner, bounded by the red line.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

The previous post, Squeezing One More In, demonstrated that the need to add more accommodation to the Fleetville streetscape is not a new concept and began early on.  The first properties to call on this time are 159 and 161 Hatfield Road.  As with so many addresses this building was a semi-detached pair, built by George Emerton, who also put up the Oak Villas (numbers 139 and 141) among other homes.  Both of the original tenants realised, as had others along the road, that there was commercial advantage in gaining permission to convert their homes into shops with flats above; Mr Bennett sold provisions, and Mr Guy was a milliner. They were both the first occupiers.  Below are two photos of this pair of former homes, the first taken in 2012, while the other is very recent.  Notice the difference?  In the back garden space accessed from the driveway between 157 and 159, a new house has been added – yet one more squeezed in!  Two long-term trades and tenants may be recalled by older residents.  Mr North managed a wet fish shop, while from the same shop space Mrs North sold fruit and veg. There were occasions in the 1950s when your author recalls walking home with one of the North  children, being invited to the flat above and being offered an item of fruit on the way. Even today number 159 is divided.  Next door was a chemist, run first by Mr Pike and then Mr Kine; today it is a charity shop.

This 2012 photo of 159 and 161, then Cartridge World and Oxfam, with the driveway between them 
and SK Carpets.  Compare it with the picture below, a 2019 closeup of the driveway with a
newly built house at the far end.

Moving on, below is an example of a pair of homes which remain residential addresses, even retaining their individual tiny front gardens.  Together with the shop numbered 167, all were owned by Frank Sear.  Mr Sear ran a dairy shop.  Built into the premises was a covered driveway to give rear access between the cottages and the shop.  The photograph below shows this drive with a wide door at the street end.  Today it has been converted into a narrow shop; a Thai Takeaway.  Even Mr Sear's former shop has a narrower frontage today to give independent access to a first floor flat.

A photo taken c1924 with three homes retaining their front gardens, and three shops; on the left was Henry Sear's dairy shop; centre right was Miss Moore's Dining Rooms, later to become Leslie
Townsend radio and bicycle shop; and extreme right is the corner boot and shoe shop.

In 2012 the centre shop is the former Henry Sear shop; the narrow shop to its left was the gated driveway to the rear.

The next property, number 169, was a side-by-side pebble-dashed detached building, having residential rooms on the left and shop on the right; the shop beginning life as a butchery run by Walter Aldridge.  However, for a few years prior to World War One, Miss Moore ran a cafe ("Dining Rooms"), and one of the two ladies standing at the shop doorway was undoubtedly Miss Moore, whose name hung on a horizontal boom flagpole, no doubt to attract attention.  From the 1920s and for the next 70 years or so it was known as Townsend's.  Useful for the early days of radio (and later television), Mr Warner and then Mr Leslie Townsend, sold components, and batteries, undertook repairs, charge up accumulators, and then widened the trade to include bicycles.  From an "alladin's cave" of a store room at the back many customers will have recalled absence from the shop for what was thought to be a long period until, finally, a spare part was located.

A 1970 shot of Mr Townsend's shop and the corner shop as a heating engineer.

A different view of Townsend's shop, now a charity shop, and the earlier boot shop and heating
engineer, now a beauty salon.

On the corner with Harlesden Road a shop with diagonal entrance was opened in 1903 for bookmaker H Copus & Son.  In fact, Horton's and then Samuels, also boot and shoe makers, repairers and retailers, continued to thrive on this corner until around 1970, when major improvements were encouraged in the heating of homes and other buildings.  T A Horn had an important local part to play in this trend.  Walk around to the side elevation in Harlesden Road we note some colour relief to the brickwork was achieved by introducing occasional lines of red bricks instead of stocks, a similar effect being used around the windows and doorway.  The former garden has also been used entirely for additional ground floor accommodation.  We should remind ourselves that, in laying out the plots at the turn of the twentieth century it was with the building of residential accommodation, not shops, in mind.  One of the original blue enamel street plates, fixed by the rural council to designate Harlesden Road in 1906, is still visible at first floor level.

In the event that some readers may be carrying out their own research into Hatfield Road developments and discover that the address numbers used here do not correspond with their own findings, the original numbers were allocated when there was still much undeveloped land and the Post Office resorted to guessing how many to reserve for future use.  It was not until 1930 that a revised numbering plan was prepared and activated the following year.

Next time we will discover the story of one of the politically most controversial events in Fleetville's early history.

Squeezing One More In

 Continuing our detailed virtual walk along Hatfield Road, and in some cases imagine we are early residents exploring the "mile of shops", last time we had reached Sandfield Road.  The next block now takes us as far as Harlesden Road, although there is sufficient material this time to proceed roughly halfway – twelve properties  would be too many for a single post!  However, the perfect photo to begin with is Andy Lawrence's newly acquired picture of what the photographer had termed "The Promenade".

A c1912 photo of the properties between Sandfield and Harlesden roads.  Sun blinds are
prominent, with Mr Gibbs showing a corner version to further highlight the location of his
shop.  Note the three first floor bays nearest Sandfield Road, one of which is missing in a
later picture below.
COURTESY ANDY LAWRENCE

Since we left Glenferrie Road we would have been, in an earlier time, at the hedge line looking into a field formerly known as Long Moody, and already, by 1902, the corner plots now have buildings on them. At Sandfield Road this was a fine shop owned by Samuel J Gibbs who aspired to furnish the tenants and owners of the homes then being built around him.  As a corner shop he was able to display two full windows, and as intended the Gibbs family lived above the shop.  But as he became more successful the shop began to expand upstairs.  Around 1910, Mr Gibbs therefore purchased number 4 Sandfield Road behind the shop – not far to travel to work! It was, in fact the only house, close to the Hatfield Road boundaries; otherwise land remained open until number 20, so what happened to number 2?  Well, on the 1922 map a house seems to have been constructed on the rear garden of number 4.  Perhaps an initiative of Mr Gibbs who felt he did not need a rear garden.  So, even in those early days of the district extra houses were already being squeezed in!

Mr Gibbs handed the business on to Henry Lewis, and by the mid thirties Mr Graham Henderson opened a "curios and oddments shop" here, before moving it along to the Laurel Road corner after the war.  The biggest change came with the re-forming of the Grimaldi business in the early days of peace, and its petrol and car maintenance business was augmented by a Rootes car sales showroom at number 149.  Yes, two band new cars could be displayed inside the shop.  Fleetville went into car sales!  For a while you could purchase refrigerators and freezers from here, before Barclays upgraded the premises and moved its bank from the Crown, which it clearly felt was advantageous for business.

Here is number 149 on the corner after the occupation of St Albans Refrigeration in the 1960s.
A pillar-style police call box stands on the pavement corner, and we are just a short time before
new-style road signs.  Every change of occupant, it seems, has brought a different side facade
on the Sandfield Road frontage.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

The arrival of Barclays Banks has also created modernised and smart external frontage.  For
the first time the building is without its first floor bay window.
COURTESY BARCLAYS ARCHIVE

The next pair of shops came four years later, but were undoubtedly built by the same company as the corner shop.  Today, however the cohesive design is lost as the first floor bay window was removed in the later conversion to bank premises. Although number 151 spent some decades in George Weatherhead's care as a china shop, and then Charles Chuter for outfitting, undoubtedly the most well-known owner began here during the Second War: Frederick W Hickie.  When petrol is in short supply people turn to their bikes; then radio continued its popularity and we became curious about the new television service, Mr Hickie and his son were happy to serve.  Since the mid-sixties insurance and legal services have ventured into the suburbs to demystify one of life's needs which had formerly been found in the side roads of the city centre, sometimes above shops.

Hickie's bicycle and radio/tv shop in the 1950s, with father and son at the doorway.
COURTESY THE HICKIE COLLECTION

The complete development as it looked in 2012.  Again, the first floor bay window and projecting
eaves are now absent.

Number 153 was one of the first shops to break away from from the notion of each trader having his or her own single shop.  Charles Chuter ran his outfitter's from two adjacent properties from the 1920s, thereby signalling that retailing often needs a variety of footprints to work in.  Soon after the war Westminster (later NatWest) moved to join other chains in serving Fleetville, and in recognition of its success, later moved to larger premises which we met last time on the west corner of Sandfield Road.

Number 157's first occupant was James Andrews who sold the comprehensive range of
accessories, fitments and finishings to homes the company had built.  This would later
become Percy Stone's newsagent's shop.
COURTESY (name temporarily mislaid – to follow shortly)

The next pair of shops was clearly intended for a specific purpose.  James Andrews owned a building business.  He had acquired land on the opposite side of Hatfield Road for his builders' yard.  The righthand shop was in the care of his wife for the sale of builders and finishers accessories – and no doubt became the firm's office.  To the left of the central vehicle arch a shop was available to let, which provided a regular rental income; a trade which, until the 1970s, served as one of Hatfield Road's regular and frequent grocery shops.  Peep through the arch next time you are passing and the service buildings to the rear are still in regular use by the present occupiers of both shops: SK Carpets.

James Andrew's shop was on the right, but he owned both shops with access to workshops
through the arch; the left shop was let to a succession of grocer's.

Number 157's longest owner was was also one who had three successive trading addresses and saw Fleetville's very birth. Percy Stone's first store was where the Rats' Castle is today.  He later moved to Bycullah Terrace, before moving again to 157. Although generally known as a newsagent's we would recognise its product range in any newsagent's we walk into today (except perhaps the lottery tickets). There are many former teenagers who will recall their daily roles as paper boys, propping their bikes against the wall under the arch before climbing the steps into the shop.

It is along this section of Hatfield Road where the feature of the ground floor front elevations follow the street line, while the first floors are turned to face due south.  Although the two shops at 155 and 157 are modest in floor area, space being reserved for the arch, the first floor accommodation over the arch provides some compensation.

Railway Street

We have only occasionally given space to any of the early Fleetville roads, particularly those which were part of the Slade Building estate – Harlesden, Sandfield, Glenferrie, Brampton and Burham roads – developed by Horace Slade, a former straw hat and box manufacturer in this city.  It is often mistakenly assumed that these roads are lined mainly with terraces of small homes.  Small many of them may be considered, but in Sandfield Road there are just two terraces, and they both consist of three dwellings.  The rest are either semi-detached homes, some with porches, or detached.

Building on the estate began at the same time, 1899, as the homes around the printing works in the centre of Fleetville.  Just two years later, the 1901 census reveals that eight out of the 22 homes on Sandfield Road's east side were occupied, and five out of the 19 on the west side.  We bear in mind that builders were, on the whole one man and an assistant (or two) and the rate of build was dependent on who and when investors were available to purchase one or pairs of plots.  There is a surprising variety of styles which may lead us to assume also a number of different landlords.

After the initial modest flush of building at the turn of the century, five years passed before any further construction, and a decade before the ground was broken at many of the Hatfield Road end plots, creating a delay before the road was fully made up and lit.  Yet another street which suffered from dust in summer and random puddles and constant mud in winter.

Of the first thirteen tenants none was born in St Albans, although two were from other parts of the county; the rest came from across the UK.  Of the 33 tenants in the completed homes in 1911, four were from St Albans, but that still left a very large majority from other parts of the country.  Considering the huge level of overcrowding and poor sanitation in the centre of St Albans at the time, these origins may appear surprising, although it may suggest the rents were still higher than was affordable for some.  This, in spite of the area being part of the rural district where the rates levied on the landlords would have been lower.  In days before private transport and public transport Sandfield Road was still some way from town and access to employment was more dependant on work being available locally.

The census for 1901 reveals that almost all of the residents were employable outwards from the railway station, including straw hat making, saddling, shop work, gardening, printing and railway work.  In fact, by 1911, a quarter of all heads of household were employed by the railway – many specifically stating their employer was the Midland Railway.  Three employees were at Nicholson's Coat factory in Sutton Road, and four were occupied in the printing industry, probably Smith's or Salvation Army.  

In fact, the senior manager at Smith's printing works, Ernest Townson, lived in a detached home, number 17.  His responsibility, and therefore salary at the print works enabled him to move later, first to Clarence Road, then Lemsford Road, followed by the Hall Place estate.  One resident was a musical instrument maker, almost certainly at the Salvation Army Musical Instrument Works, which opened just a few months after the earlier 1901 census.  There were also two teachers, probably working at Fleetville and/or Camp Elementary schools.

A plot at the north end of the road remained empty and had been reserved for a future local shop, which, at the time might well have been useful for families living in Brampton Road.  Instead, shops began to appear along almost the entire length of Hatfield Road, and residents rarely needed to walk far to reach their nearest grocer or baker.  The reserved plot at the north end remained empty until the 1960s when number 39 was added, but as a home rather than retail premises.  

I have no doubt that there are many Sandfield Road stories.  Go to the Your Turn page on the website and share some interesting details with us.